


all i want for christmas is you (to believe in me)

by Aupple (GiveUpResistance)



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex just wants chocolate and Maggie, Can Eliza just be everyone's Mom, F/F, Fluff, Lena needs more friends in National City than Kara and Supergirl, Lena needs people that believe in her, Someone give Lena a hug, They keep holding hands because I need them to, it's Christmas, sort of a get together fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 01:37:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9050014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GiveUpResistance/pseuds/Aupple
Summary: It's almost Christmas - Lena asks Supergirl for help but solves it herself - Lena asks Kara for lunch and gets invited to Christmas - Lena goes to Christmas and finds a home.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I like writing Christmas fics. Emotions running high, people wanting to be with the people they love, lots of delicious food. And Lena deserves the love that her family has denied her.

Lena hears a soft thud on her balcony and knows without turning who it is - there's only one person in National City who visits her this way.

To be honest, Supergirl is the only person, aside from those who for her, that visits her at all, apart from Kara.

She cuts that thought off, and turns a smile on the woman who is standing on her balcony, walking over to greet her.

“Supergirl, how nice to see you,” she says, meant it, but her smile falters when she sees that Supergirl isn't returning it. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh no,” Supergirl says hastily. “I just wanted to check that you were okay? I haven't seen you around, and with what happened…”

“Right.” What happened being her adoptive mother attempting to kill all aliens on Earth not very long ago. “I'm quite alright.”

“I just know that it must be hard for you, and, well, if you need anything…”

She looks at Lena with such hopeful eyes that her heart warms just a little more. “Thank you,” she says, and means it. Maybe she can have at least two friends in National City.

Her mind drifts back to Kara.

“Well, I should probably head off,” Supergirl begins, and steps back as if to take off-

“Wait!”

Supergirl stops. “What is it?”

This is such a stupid idea, but Lena takes a deep breath, and “What do you think Kara would like for Christmas?” tumbles out of her mouth.

“What would…” Supergirl looks like she's turning slightly pink. “How would I know?”

“Well, you two know each other, don't you? She's interviewed you for articles, and you share information.”

“Right.” Supergirl laughs oddly. “Well, she's into kind of nerdy things, she likes food… I don't know, I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” Lena is partly disappointed, partly relieved that Supergirl doesn't have much more of a clue what to get Kara.”

“I'm sure that Kara would love anything you got her!” Supergirl tells her in a tone that Lena is sure is meant to be reassuring. And it is, somewhat, this vote of confidence from Supergirl, but her confidence in herself is still a bit too low.

“Thanks. I probably won't get to see her before Christmas anyway.”

“I'm sure that if you call her and ask she'd be really happy to see you,” Supergirl tells her. “ _I’d_ like to stay and talk more, but I kind of have to…”

“Of course.” Lena waves her away. “Go save people.”

Supergirl grins and is gone in a second.

Lena turns away from the open door and returns to her desk. Supergirl was right. She should just call.

As she picks up her mobile and finds Kara’s contact, complete with a picture, an idea begins to form in her mind.

 

Kara certainly sounds happy on the phone when Lena asks her if she wants to meet for lunch on the 23rd, and they agree to go to a restaurant midway between their offices.

She has the present all ready, neatly wrapped, and she has made sure to get a booth in a corner of the restaurant where she is less visible to everyone else. She really doesn't need the attention from the other restaurant patrons to get in the way of her lunch with Kara.

Lena is just checking her watch again - it’s only three minutes past when they decided to meet but she supposes that she's always worried - when she sees the door open and a blonde head enters the restaurant.

She shifts over in the booth to get a proper look, and yes, it is Kara, so she gives a little wave and is rewarded with a grin and Kara rushing over to greet her.

“Sorry I’m a bit late, I had to finish up some things at work.” She falls down into the booth seat. “I hope you weren't waiting too long.”

Lena waves her hand in dismissal of the thought. “I've only been here a couple of minutes. I like your outfit, by the way. Very festive.”

Kara looks down at her sweater, a bright red and green article with snowmen, reindeer, and stars decorating the fabric, along with sparkly threads. “Thanks. You look nice too, very pretty dress.” She picks up her menu hurriedly. “Gosh, I’m hungry.”

They discuss the food for a few minutes, and then give their orders to a waitress who doesn't look Lena in the eyes.

“So have you been here before?” Kara asks her.

“Yes, only once or twice, however. I think I may have had a salad, but I’m sure the pasta will be equally good, it's well spoken of.”

“Good.” 

They lapse into silence as their drinks are brought out, and Lena feels too awkward to say something. Should she bring up the present?

“So are you beginning your holidays after lunch like some of us are?” Kara asks, then continues, “Well, we’re not really finishing up, my boss keeps telling me that we’re always on the job but I have a couple of days off so I’m going home.” Kara’s cheeks flush. “Sorry, I’m rambling, aren't I.”

Lena can't help but laugh a little. “It's a very charming ramble, don't worry. And no, I’m heading back to the office. Still lots of work to be done, unfortunately.”

“But you’ll take a break, won't you?”

She shrugs, unwilling to lie to Kara’s worried face.

“You’re not doing anything to celebrate the holiday?”

“Well, I don't really have anyone to celebrate with, so-”

“Yes, you do,” Kara says fiercely, and reaches over the table to grab her hand. “You can come over to mine.”

“Oh, I couldn't,” Lena says, though her heart is crying out to accept the kindest offer anyone has made to her in years. “I wouldn't want to intrude on your family-”

“You wouldn't be! I mean, there's my mom and my sister, but Winn is going to be there too - he was at your party and helped with that device- and James Olsen, and I think Alex’s girlfriend is stopping by, too, and really it's the more the merrier.”

“I don't know if-”

“Please? We'd love to have you there.”

The sincerity in Kara’s voice rocks her and she finds herself nodding. “If you’re sure-”

“I am!” Kara says, and squeezes her hand before flushing and letting go, as if she'd forgotten that she’d enclosed Lena’s fingers in her own.

“Okay then,” Lena says, and can't help but smile. “Oh, and I have something for you.” 

She reaches into her bag, but before she can pull the wrapped gift even halfway out, Kara says, “No, keep it until Sunday, if it's under the tree I’ll be too tempted to have a peek at it. Mom and Alex always have to hide my presents until Christmas morning.”

Lena laughs, and Kara joins in, only stopping when their food begins to arrive and Kara’s attention is distracted by the garlic bread.

 

The rest of lunch goes pretty well, Lena thinks, mostly talking about each other's work and the tv shows that Kara has been watching.

When they finish their food, Lena is more relaxed than she has been for weeks and she smiles gratefully at Kara for it.

“So I’ll see you on Sunday?” Kara asks as the step out into the cold air of the street.

“I wouldn't miss it.”

Kara beams and throws her arms around Lena, hugging her for a few moments before letting go and stepping back. “I'm really glad you're coming.”

“Me too.” There's a moment of awkward silence, and the Lena forces herself to say, “Well, I’d better get back to the office.” 

“Of course.” Kara waves at her in a rather adorable fashion, and Lena returns it before waving down a taxi.

And then she can't get the image of Kara smiling down at her through the taxi window out of her head.

 

Lena halts outside of Kara’s apartment, trying to breathe deeply and reign in her nervousness. Shifting the bag on her arm, she presses the doorbell before she can stop herself, and almost immediately the door is opened by Kara.

“Lena, come in,” she says, and ushers her inside, where she finds the other four people in the apartment looking at her.

“Hi.”

The middle aged woman at the kitchen counter wipes her hands on a towel and comes over to greet her. “I'm Eliza, Alex and Kara’s Mom. It's such a pleasure to have you here,” she says, holding out a hand for her to shake, and Lena is happily surprised by the warmth in Eliza’s eyes. 

“You too,” she manages to say, and then Kara is by her side and smiling.

“Do you want me to take the bag?” she asks, and Lena remembers the presents.

“Oh, right- I brought some things, but I wasn’t sure what everyone liked-”

“There really wasn't any need, Lena,” Kara says.

“I feel bad for crashing your celebration.”

“Oh, we always make plenty of food,” Eliza says. Then; “You’ll have to be quick to make sure that Kara doesn't eat it all first, though.”

“Mom!”

The good-natured teasing warms her, as does the pink flush that appears on Kara’s cheeks.

Opening the bag, Lena carefully lifts the red and white Christmas lilies out and hands them to Kara. “I thought that these looked rather festive.”

“They're beautiful,” Kara exclaims, and turns around to view the room. “Maybe we could put them on the table?”

“Yeah, that'd look good,” another voice says, and Lena sees Kara’s FBI agent sister stride forward. She nods at Lena. “Nice to see you again.” 

“You too.”

Alex Danvers turns to her sister and takes the plant in her hands, leading the way to the already set dining table and making some remark that makes Kara laugh.

The woman who had been standing with Alex across the room approaches her. “I'm Maggie Sawyer,” she says, holding out a hand for Lena to shake.

“Lena Luthor.” Maggie has a firm grip, and she grins at Lena.

“I was glad to hear that you’re taking you company in a different direction.”

She has heard this enough that she can reply with, “So am I.” Before Maggie can say anything else she turns the lone male in the room. “It's Winn, isn't it?”

“Uh- yes,” he says, looking a little like a deer in the headlights. 

“I wanted to thank you again for your help at my party.”

“Oh, no problem. It was a good plan, great device, are you developing a lot of stuff like that? I was reading this article about- sorry, I shouldn't go into technical talk at parties, I know.”

“I spend a lot of time with engineers. I can guarantee you that I’m quite used to it.” He laughs, so Lena reaches into the bag of presents that she'd spent a frantic few hours shopping for the afternoon after her lunch with Kara. “This was recommended to me by one of my employees, I enjoyed what I’ve read of it so far, so I thought if you hadn't already read it…” She hands him the book on the possibilities of particle acceleration and is pleased to hear his gasp. 

“I've been meaning to get my hands on a copy of this! This is fantastic, thank you,” he says, and Lena doesn't even mind that he's already opening the book and wandering away.

“I’m afraid I wasn't sure what anyone else would like, so I hope you like chocolate,” Lena says, turning back to Maggie.

“Oh, we like chocolate,” the other woman replies, and then raises her voice and says, “Hey, Danvers! Chocolate!”

Both Kara and Alex turn from where they're standing by the table and make a beeline for them.

Lena quickly unloads the boxes of chocolates onto the kitchen counter nearby.

“Chocolates for us?” Kara asks.

“Well, I kind of only got a box each for anyone I didn't know what else they would like, but I can get more if you want.”

“No,” Kara says waving away the worried look that Lena knows is on her face. “I'll just steal Alex’s.”

“No, you won't,” says Alex, who grabs the four boxes. “Mom will guard them.”

She and Maggie move toward Eliza at the other end of the kitchen, Maggie saying, “You’re such a _nerd_ ,” as they go.

Leaving her and Kara alone.

“Well, I hope what I did get you is at least as good as chocolate,” Lena says, only half joking.

“Right!” Kara exclaims. “Your present is under the tree, come on.” At the other end of the room, by the tv, is a heavily decorated Christmas tree, so Lena follows Kara over. She quickly retrieves a prettily wrapped parcel and they sit together on one of the sofas to exchange them.

Them begin to open them at the same time, but Lena has only dislodged on piece of tape when she looks up and her eyes are caught by the look on Kara’s face as she pulls the paper away and sees the leather cover of a notebook, the name ‘Kara Danvers’ embossed on the bottom right hand corner.

“This is _incredible_ ,” Kara breathes. 

“I thought it would be good for your work, and you can take the book out and replace it when it's full, so-”

“It's the best,” Kara says sincerely. “And my present to you is so _lame_ in comparison,” she groans.

“No, it's not,” Lena tells her, returning her attention to the soft package in her hands. Quickly, before Kara can say anything else, she opens it to find a scarf of soft, thick, dark blue wool.

“I know it's not that great,” Kara is saying. “I made a few mistakes that I didn't see until too late and I haven't knit in a while so-”

This has Lena’s full attention. “You made this for me?” She looks back down at the scarf, this proof of care and affection and has to force away any thoughts of tears.

“Yeah, I just thought that you would like the wool and it would suit you and it could keep you warm but you don't have to wear it if you don’t want to.”

“No one has ever made me something before,” Lena confesses, clutching the soft material and waning Kara’s face fall.

And then-

“Oh, Lena, you deserve so much more.” Kara's hands are suddenly clasped over hers, and she's leaning in close, looking her steadily in the eyes. “One day everyone will know how amazing you are, and _you_ will be the Luthor everyone remembers.”

The belief in her voice is so strong, and the heat of her hands on Lena’s so warm that there is nothing to do but speak the truth.

“Kara, the only present better than this scarf is you.”

Breathe in. Breathe out.

The stunned expression on Kara’s face is replaced by a smile. “Merry Christmas, then, Lena,” she says, and hands slip between hers and the scarf, letting it fall.

Lena feels a smile pulling at her lips. “Merry Christmas.”

**Author's Note:**

> I want to write more - Lena feeling at home amongst the Danvers and friends. Dumb Christmas games. Eliza making Lena promise to visit if she's ever nearby. A kiss in the doorway as Lena leaves, wearing her new scarf. The knowledge that she doesn't have to be alone.  
> But I have told the things I wanted most to tell, and given you leave to imagine the rest.  
> (Also I'm imagining the scarf in Cascade Magnum yarn if you want an idea of it.)


End file.
